March 22, 2021 Contentsquare: Two Thirds of WebSite Traffic Now Mobile

New research examines total site traffic from the world’s largest brands, finding a 16% uplift in mobile traffic last year.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of total website traffic came from smartphones in 2020, up 16% from 2019, according to a new global study by Contentsquare, the leaders in experience analytics. Despite the increase, the research revealed that almost half (49%) of mobile users bounce after viewing just one page.

The ‘2021 Digital Experience Benchmark’ report incorporates global Contentsquare session data from some of the world’s largest brands. The anonymized data set includes more than 20 billion web sessions from over 900 websites around the world, providing unparalleled insight into previously misunderstood user behaviors.

Commenting on the findings, Niki Hall, CMO at Contentsquare said, “Digital teams and business leaders are already familiar with the mobile imperative — one we’ve been designing for since Forrester started discussing a mobile-first approach almost 10 years ago. The acceleration of smartphone usage observed in 2020 serves as a reminder that to remain competitive today, you need to offer a seamless experience on both your mobile site and app.”

The report also highlights the explosion of mobile app usage during the past year, which saw mobile app screen views increase by 202%. Time spent on mobile apps peaked at the onset of the pandemic, with a 91% increase in session time in March.

“Smartphones are no longer just another way for visitors to interact and shop with your brand — they’re becoming the preferred way for consumers to discover and research new products and services. And with almost half of mobile users exiting your site before they make it to the second page, brands should lean on customer intelligence to ensure the experiences they design match users’ goals and expectations.”

Additionally, Contentsquare’s benchmark found that the luxury sector dominated mobile in 2020, with 76% of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device. Following closely were beauty and apparel industries, where smartphone users made up 72% and 70% of all online visits, respectively.

However, the research also revealed that desktop still dominates in the financial services (57%) and B2B (81%) industries, where visitors tend to access sites via work computers or prefer larger screen size to complete transactions.

“Contentsquare’s annual benchmark of digital customer behaviors provides great insight into how web and app browsing trends vary sharply from one industry to another and from one device to another,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder, and principal analyst with ZK Research. “Every brand is unique, of course, but this aggregated data set allows teams to compare the performance of their CX against their sector benchmarks, and to see if they’re ahead or lagging in the race for the perfect experience.”

Subscribe to Industry Today